Shinigami and the Perfect Soldier
by nukiuchi-enjeru
Summary: Sent on several missions that test their abilities to work with each other, Duo must make decisions when not only he, but Heero get severely injured. Warning for language and violence.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing does not belong to me.

The soft wind caressed the waves against a shore, overlooked by a young man whose long hair moved ever so slightly in the same breeze. Currently, the sky reflected his mood: dark, and getting more so by the minute. This evening, he had thought of many things, all of them rather drastic. Yet no matter how hard he tried to find them, alternative routes remained firmly hidden in the depths of his mind.

Sighing, he took one last look across the now midnight blue waves before rising. His right hand went to the small of his back, unsheathing a dagger that was hidden there. He then gathered his hair into a make shift ponytail before utilizing the dagger like a pair of scissors. Moments later, when he turned to leave, the soft moonlight reflected the waves, now covered lightly with the shodden tresses of his hair, so often before bound in a braid.

**Thirty nights earlier**…

Sirens wailed over a partly demolished OZ base as two figures flew across the ground towards the moderate safety of the forest beyond. Behind them some forces pursued, while more ran about trying to assess and acclimate to the situation.

The two fleeing, both with dark brown hair, one with a long braid quickly snagged some small bikes on their way off base, increasing their chances of insuring a mostly clean getaway. Providing, of course, had they successfully disintegrated all of the mobile suits back in the hangar.

"Damn you, Yuy!" The braided one yelled out, "You had to insist on hiding Wing and 'Scythe far away so as not to be easily detected. We'll be lucky if we make it to them at all at this rate!"

"Shut up and drive." Came the cold response.

_Fuck you, Yuy. I can concentrate on two things at the same time. _

The reason came clear for the comment, however, when they had to head off-road, however, and into dense underbrush towards their Gundams.

_Dammit, why does he always have to be so cold, but right almost all the time? If I talked through here I could easily get my mouth widened by a passing branch, never mind possibly launch myself over a root-_

Duo quickly stopped his bike shortly before colliding with the Wing pilot who had stopped moments earlier.

"What the FUCK, Yuy! You may have a death wish, but that doesn't have to include me!"

"Oh, no." Heero said, actually letting bitter irony seep in, "It would have been _much_ more suicidal had we kept going."

"Kept going? What the fuck are you… oh."

Duo finally followed Heero's line of sight. Not even fifteen feet in front of them lay a canyon wide enough for three of the group's Gundams to lie end to end. Then Duo sweatdropped.

"Eh… heh, heh."

"You're welcome. Now let's go." He said, dismounting.

"Go?"

"Yes. We're going down. Or did you forget that our Gundams are behind a waterfall upstream from here?"

"Oh yeah…"

The two ditched the bikes, quickly covering them with loose brush before trying to find a path down. Climbing up the area near the Gundams was one thing; they still had a bit of light at that time. Now, it was full dark, they were far from their Gundams, and had to be wary about loose gravel and rock.

_Humph. You know, if Yuy fell, then he'd probably just dust himself off and keep going even if he had broken bones._ Duo shuddered from the memory of the event of the hospital escape and the ship afterwards when Yuy set his own broken bone. _Me, I'd be extremely lucky if I got a board to splint some bones and make it back to 'Scythe._

_Yuy, you may have a death wish, but somehow, you still manage to survi-_

"Ai!" he yelped a bit in pain as the ground gave way a bit, twisting his left ankle as he struggled to remain upright.

"Status." Came a hurried whisper.

"I'm fine."

"…

"Distance to the waterfall is approximately thirty yards. Can you make it?"

"Yes, Yuy, I can." _God I wish you could see me glaring at you for a change._

"… Let's go, then."

A little further, however, Duo slipped a second time, leaving the Wing pilot time enough only to grab what so often resembled rope: Duo's braid.

"Ah…" Duo's eyes teared from pain, trying to resist the urge to scream, as that would immediately alert their pursuers to their location.

Ever so slowly, Heero brought Duo back to himself, finally wrapping his arms around the slightly wounded boy. "Why don't we stop for a bit?" Heero whispered huskily, and slightly out of breath, in Duo's ear.

"Ah, yeah… sure." Duo let himself be carefully guided down into a sitting position.

Even though Duo was still ired, in pain and shock of the event, he couldn't help but feel comforted by being in the Wing pilot's grasp. He couldn't remember ever being held like this before. He liked the warmth of two bodies close together,

"Ready to go again?" Yuy whispered

His head and ankle still throbbed a bit, but felt fine otherwise. "Yeah." He half sighed.

"You sure?"

_There he goes again, doubting me_. "Yes."

"Or would you like a little more time?"

_He's certainly being cautious, though. Could Mr. Ice really _**care**_ about someone?_ "No, I should be fine."

Even with Duo saying that he should be okay, they continued to wait a few more minutes before continuing down the steep incline of the wall of the canyon. The soft echo of thunderous water tumulting down soon turned into a deafening roar as they rounded the bend to see the waterfall behind which they had hidden their friends and weapons. What they did not expect were the group of Leos, perched to either side of the top and bottom of the falls.

"Shit!" Duo mumbled. "Now what do we do? We _can't _let them take either."

Because of the dark, Duo completely missed the small smirk play across Heero's lips before turning around. "Fine. You wait here. I'm going to distract them enough so that you can get to yours."

"What the _hell _are you thinking of doing?"

"Hn." Was all the answer he received.

That is, until he heard the faint drone of one of the motorcycles they had yoinked from the base steadily increasing in volume. Before Yuy screamed past him, Duo barely heard him instruct: Follow a bit behind me, then hide. The Leos had already readied their weapons at the sound of his approach, so that he had to weave in and out of the spray of bullets.

_Damn. I have to commend him on knowing how to use that well… he –ow-- that had to hurt._ Duo winced as Heero launched his cycle onto one of the Leo's shoulders, skating around the narrow rim to the other side, causing one of the others firing to dislodge the other's headcompletely. The small explosion accompanying this was good enough propulsion for Heero to go through the waterfall, and his Gundam awaiting him there.

Duo smiled. _Niiiice_. _But you can't use your weapon through the fall, like I can. _

_Just leave some for me to play with. _Duo could feel his urge to fight rising again, giving him enough energy to run straight through the fall, and the safety beyond. Or what he _thought_ was safety.

Yuy was lying in a small heap, tearing small strips of cloth to bind up a few wounds from bullets that had just made it through the water.

"What are you waiting for?" He growled at Duo. "Don't worry about me. Get out while you can, and take some as you go. Just leave one for me."

Duo smiled inwardly, as his thoughts were just repeated by his companion.

"Happy to oblige." This time he let the sinister smile play across his thin lips before climbing into the cockpit of 'Scythe.

After a few more minutes of patchwork, the Wing pilot joined him on the other side of the waterfall, leaving three Leos for him to destroy.

"Excellent job!" _as usual dammit…_, "Can we go now?"

"Yes, Duo, we can. You need proper treatment for that wound, as much as I need it for mine. See you back at base."

A/N: Ducks behind sofa. Okay, PLEASE don't kill me! It'll be explained why Duo did it, honestly! I warned you it'd be dark!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

He stood in front of a mirror, carefully combing his now properly cut hair. It felt odd to have short hair again, especially with trying to make it mussed, when he was used to it being neatly kept back. His face was firmly set, as was his will, and only his eyes truly showed what loss he felt.

**Twenty days earlier…**

"Move your fat ass, Yuy! We only have a few more minutes before the bombs go off!"

"I know that, but if there weren't so many obstacles in this duct, then we would be able to move easier. And if you really feel like dealing with guards, then I'll happily oblige to toss you down the next grate."

_'Somehow I think that he would enjoy doing that too.' _"No thanks."

"Hn. Then deal with the delay as best as you can. Now shut the hell up or you'll expose our position."

'_Yuy… god would I love to tell you those same words._'

Silence filled the rest of the cramped space until they could exit safely to the outside and try to further escape to their gundams. However, Duo glanced back as he thought he heard something. Pausing a moment more, he saw a few OZ soldiers raise guns and fire in their general direction.

'_Shit!_' Duo mentally swore. '_That's what happens when you try and move quietly quickly: you make stuff around you move as well, like bushes._'

He ducked as a few more bullets whizzed above his head. He then proceeded to crawl in the direction of their gundams. He didn't see Heero. When he was a few feet away from the cliff face, something pegged him in the back of the head. He rolled over, careful as not to disturb the leaves beneath him. Sitting up in one of the trees, bouncing an acorn in one hand was Heero. He beckoned for Duo to join him in the relative safety.

"Same thing as last time. Or almost the same." Heero's face was dimly illuminated by the blast far behind them of the bombs finally going off.

"Leos around our gundams?" Duo was puzzled, "How the hell are they finding them? And why wait next to them where we can see them? They ought to know that we would see it's a trap."

"Obviously." He extended a finger, pointing to a figure perched on the opposite cliff edge. "Look familiar?"

"That's… Relena's brother Milliardo, right? Or Zechs Merquise as he likes to be known now, yes?"

"Correct."

"So he's behind these… campers?"

"Possibly."

"So how do we sneak by _him_?"

"Carefully."

Duo glared at Heero.

Heero's eyes widened ever so slightly. "… You've been waiting to do that for a while, haven't you?" '_And I thought **my** glares were cold_.' "Oh just follow me and you should be fine."

"Just don't get us shot at. But, yes, I have been waiting for a good amount of time."

The two crawled underneath the brush, and down the steep incline right up to it's edge. Along the way, they calculated just how many Leos were there and wound up with about ten apiece. And Zechs was now nowhere to be seen. He could have been in one of the Leos, or just walked away to a safer area. One thing was certain: he did not leave by plane or helicopter.

"Shit." Duo whispered

"I know. I want to know where that bastard is as well."

"You want to go first?"

"How about we go on three?"

"All right."

When the boys finally crawled into their cockpits, both were bleeding from bullet grazes on their arms and legs. They showed their appreciation for their wounds by leaving the Leos in bite-sized pieces.

"Meet you back at base."

"We have to stop leaving in bad states, Yuy."

"Hn."

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. I'm trying to just slip small bits of what's going on in the present, but not give it away outright. More than likely, I'm going to be able to wrap this up within two more chapters, maybe three.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. 

Finally satisfied that his hair was done up properly, the young man turned towards his bed and the package that lay atop it.

**Ten days earlier…**

Duo shivered against the air duct he squatted in, wishing that Heero would hurry up about setting the bombs. He had already been gone for twenty minutes. Unless the room was larger than what their floor plan had said, he should have been back ten minutes ago. There was yet another possibility for why he was late, but Duo pushed that thought to the back of his mind.

'_No. There is no way that he would have gotten caught. I, on the other hand, since I've had it happen before, it's possible. But that was only because I was being stupid._'

Duo waited another five minutes before finally deciding to go and search for him. As he pulled the grating up, he saw a hand try and push it up at the same moment.

"Yuy, that you?" Duo whispered

"Yes, it's me, now move over so I can get in."

"What took so long?"

"There were about twenty manned Aries in there. It takes a bit longer trying to dodge people's gazes than just the camera's."

"Yeah, that's true." He squeezed to one side so Heero could take the lead. He merely lay down next to Duo, however. "What? Something wrong?"

"You got yours done before I did?"

"Yeah, why?" It took a second for it to register. "Oh shit! They knew what our real target would be!"

"Move. Now!"

Alarms screamed in their ears as they scrambled through the duct. Duo and Heero glanced at each other, neither needing to ask what they both thought. The next grate they came across, they kicked it out, swinging down and pinning two OZ soldiers rushing about. Now with better back-up weapons, they proceeded to an exit. Nearly every two corners turned, they had to replenish their weapons, mostly because the clips that remained within the guns were partially depleted.

Finally emerging from the building, spotlights glared down from Leos, Aries and helicopters. They knew what had to happen in order to ensure partial success. They bolted in opposite directions, hoping to find something-anything- that would aid them in getting to their gundams faster. With them inside their gundams, the playing field would be nearly level. However, they had to avoid the spray of bullets fired in both their directions.

'_FUCK!_' Duo swore mentally, clutching his shoulder as a bullet cleaved into his skin.

Upon opening his eyes, he spotted a small bike only meant for one, but if he could find Heero, he'd grab him somehow. It was not until he had climbed on it and sped off that he heard a similar engine starting up a few yards away. Glancing over, he spotted Heero atop another bike, trying to weave in and out of the hail of bullets. Some fancy turning later, he had managed to get the mechs chasing him to shoot each other, leaving him open enough to make a break for where Wing was hidden.

'_Dammit, if he can do it, then why shouldn't I be able to?_'

Duo revved the engine, swerving the back end around so he faced the mechs again, and proceeded to weave his way around their legs, almost as if he were trying to tie them with wire to make them fall over. Only they fell over because of huge bullet wounds, and not any rope. Illuminated partially from one of the sets of bombs going off.

Duo glanced back at his work. '_Well shit, I can be just as good as him. Yuy, I'll catch up with you soon_.'

Reorienting himself, Duo listened to where Heero's bike was going. Soon, he was on his trail, merely two minutes behind. They had hidden their gundams near a mountain and covered them in leaves and brush.

Arriving at the site, he immediately noticed that there were absolutely no sign of mechs, like the two earlier times. Dismissing the fact that they may have been better at hiding them this time, Duo dumped his bike and began running towards the place to start uncovering Deathscythe. It kept registering in the back of his mind that there was something wrong with the situation, particularly with the total absence of the helicopters that had been pursuing them from the base.

Heero had already started uncovering Wing as Duo was dumping his bike. Fully uncovering it, he scrambled down the mech's slick covering to the cockpit. However, he did not find Wing in the condition he had left it. There were no mars of battle on the outside, belying that it had been found, but what was inside that counted. A man was sitting in the place that he should have been.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Heero's eyes widened as he recognized the person sitting in the cockpit of Wing Zero. The formerly masked man with long blond hair had challenged him once down in the Antarctic. And he now sat in _his_ cockpit. It took several moments for him to register that there was something wet seeping down the front of his shirt. Glancing down, he saw the dark stain as blood soaked his favorite t-shirt, then back up to see the smoke from Zechs' recently fired gun. Zechs lifted the angle and fired a second time.

Duo, having skidded to a halt right between the two gundams, watched briefly as Heero plummeted down from the area of his cockpit. It took him less time to get over and catch him.

The first bullet had gone through his chest, narrowly missing the heart, and the second had gone through the side of his throat near several veins. He would not survive this. Even traveling at top speed, cloaked, the nearest help was over thousands of miles away.

"Duo." Heero gurgled.

"Don't talk you idiot!"

"Promise me you'll get that bastard." He coughed, and blood spurted from both wounds and his mouth. "Promise me!"

"I promise, Heero."

"Hn." He smiled ever so faintly.

"What are you smiling at?"

"That's the first time you've called me by my first name."

"It won't be the last, Heero."

Except for the wounds, the Gundam pilot known as Heero Yuy slipped into death with a peaceful look on his face.

"I will get him for you, Heero." Duo clutched his hand in the other pilot's before climbing into Deathscythe, paused, and climbed out again. He climbed up into Wing Zero instead.

**Today …**

He looked at the two packages sitting on his bed, and slowly opened them. Doffing his normal black clothes, he donned the green tank top, black spandex shorts, white socks and mustard yellow high-top shoes. Stepping out in his new attire and life, he proceeded to Wing in order to air his challenge to Mr. Merquise.

A/N: )Cringes( Sorry everyone! There _is_ one more chapter to come, though. Sorry for the short chapter, but I really didn't want to draw it out more. But again, I do not own GundamWing.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing

Zechs perched in the open cockpit of Epyon, his blond hair flowing back in the breeze. He could not refuse the anonymous challenge that had come across the airways two nights ago. The voice sounded familiar, and he was anxious to see just who it had been. Not to mention that the language the person used was polite, but in a certain tone that you could tell they were royally pissed off. He balked when he caught the first glimpse of a Gundam flying to the designated battle area.

"No." he half whispered, "It can't be him!"

Wing Zero touched down about fifty yards away from Epyon and opened the hatch to the cockpit. Emerging from it stood a young male with slightly mussed hair, green t-shirt, black spandex shorts and mustard-yellow high tops.

"I shot you point-blank you bastard! How many times must we have this battle?"

"Hn. Just once more."

Zechs snarled '_Arrogant brat_.'

They both climbed back into their cockpits, firing up the engines and energy weapons. They faced each other, ready for the other to move, but unwilling to make the first move.

'_Make a move, bastard_.' Echoed in both of their minds.

'_Oh fuck this_.' Zechs thought after a few more minutes and decided to charge.

But Zero leapt, easily clearing Epyon and came down behind, severing the tail completely off. Zechs stopped a few yards away, and whirled around, shock playing across his face. The pilot still confounded him at how agile he was with mechs; but he was never that fast before. Never that fast. He came in again, this time, ready to go airborne. Light flared, however, as their weapons met. Both Gundams leaned into each other, trying to get any leverage they could. For a moment, they broke, and Zero brought his blade around to slice off both of Epyon's wrists in one movement.

At the moment, a pink limousine pulled up, and Relena emerged, rushing over to shield Epyon.

"Stop it, Heero!" She shouted, "Leave my brother alone!"

Chuckling echoed over Zero's intercom.

"Heero, this is no laughing matter!"

"Do you relinquish the battle, Peacecraft?" snapped out.

"Heero!" Relena gasped, shocked at the animosity in the voice.

"Yes, if you grant me one wish."

"Hn. Name it."

"Let us meet, face to face, person to person."

"Agreed."

Relena backed off a few paces, unsure what to feel as the two men walked up to each other. Cobalt eyes met ice blue ones, and both glared at each other. A small gasp brought them to look at Relena, whose eyes were wide with recognition.

"Relena. I know you saw Heero and me in Antarctica, but I never truly met him like this. What do you know that I don't?"

"You're not my Heero."

"No. I'm now the _third_ Heero Yuy." He glared up at Zechs, "Because _he_ shot him point-blank, killing him."

Relena slowly shook her head in disbelief.

"It would have been more honorable for you two to die in a Gundam battle, then like that!"

"It's the only way I could have bested him. He piloted anything beautifully. He was any commanding officer's dream. A perfect soldier. How could I possibly beat him fairly?"

Zechs' head snapped to the side as he was hit by Heero's fist, jarring some tears that had formed.

"He was my friend."

"…Duo?" Relena tentatively asked.

"Not anymore, Miss Peacecraft."

Not Anymore.

A/N: Sorry but, there will no, repeat NO sequel.


End file.
